The Aussies have it

I was surprised to be catching an Australian at the local jazz club on my first night in NYC but I shouldn’t be. There’s a great awareness of Australian actors here in the USA. JC Stylles is not a household name like Kate Blanchett or Russell Crowe, but he put on a lovely, rollicking show with his organ trio. Organ trios are like that: sweet flowing music with softly rounded tone and those wonderful chordal swells that only an organ can do, with the bouncy, fresh guitar. JCS did a fine job with crisp acoustic tone, delicate pick work and rapid runs that played with the wispy music that supported his solos. I loved Pat Bianchi’s organ. He looked around and played joyfully behind the guitar, but for solos his eyes were closed in a sly grin of comfortable concentration and the lines were busily arpeggiated and rich in easy-going dissonance that did no disservice to the cheery nature of this format. The drummer was Carmen Latorre who swung with ease and stunned me with what must have been the loudest snap this side of Philly (but this is a small room). This was the downtown release of JC’s new CD, although the drummer was changed. An entertaining and lively concert in the fine mainstream tradition of the organ trio.

JC Stylles (guitar) led an organ trio at Smalls Jazz Club, NYC, with Pat Bianchi (organ) and Carmen Latorre (drums).